Embrace The Suck with #GrowthGuest Corey Nieder

We are joined by Corey Nieder, Vice President of Sales at PHMG, a leading authority in the world of audio branding. Since joining PHMG in 2016, Corey has been instrumental in driving the company's expansion across North America, particularly marking significant strides in key metropolitan markets like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. His journey from making initial client calls to leading strategic sales initiatives showcases not just his mastery in sales and audio branding but also his ability to identify and develop future sales leaders. Corey's role involves steering PHMG's sales strategies, managing high-profile deals, and leveraging technology and AI to enhance customer engagement through sound, making him a pivotal figure in redefining how businesses connect with their audiences.

Corey introduces the "Embrace The Suck" mentality, a concept that champions resilience and optimism in the face of sales challenges. This mindset is rooted in the understanding that rejection and setbacks are integral to the sales process, serving as opportunities for growth and learning rather than deterrents. By celebrating small victories and approaching each interaction with a fresh perspective, Corey emphasizes the importance of perseverance, adaptability, and maintaining a positive outlook. This approach not only enhances individual performance but also contributes to a culture of continuous improvement and success within teams.

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Chapters

• 1:48 Two Truths and a Lie from LinkedIn
• 8:35 50 for 50
• 12:48 Mining for Growth Gold
• 19:05 Tales from Sales
• 28:03 To Do or Not to Do

Transcript

Unknown: 0:00

All these years I'm still here nothing could stop me. Welcome

Eric Watkins: 0:13

back to the gross show. We do not have Scott with us today. We got a special guest, though we got a special treat for you. We don't do this often. We don't do this.

Jeff Winters: 0:24

We should do it more often. We

Eric Watkins: 0:25

should do it more often, you know, we should bring some new people into the fold. Jeff, why don't you tell the audience about our guest today, we

Jeff Winters: 0:32

are very excited to have Corey nieder. With us. Cory is the VP of sales at pH mg. They are the world leaders in audio branding. And they'll help connect your customers through the help you connect with your customers through the power of sound, wherever and however it is really cool. Interestingly enough, start on the phones contacting prospective clients about working together. Eric does that sound familiar? I know that I know that alliance worked his way up in the department. He's in Chicago. He's originally from St. Louis. He's in studio Corey. Welcome. Yeah.

Unknown: 1:05

Thank you guys. Glad to be here. Glad to be back in the hometown of St. Louis. Feels good. Feels good. Excited.

Eric Watkins: 1:11

Little known fact. I don't know if we shared it with you. We're in the home. anelli here.

Unknown: 1:15

That's what I heard. That's what I heard. I could feel the presence when I walked in this. Yeah. Yeah.

Eric Watkins: 1:19

Shake your tail feather. What else hot in here that was all made here.

Unknown: 1:24

Maybe we can do those written down red dash renditions in the in the studio. Yeah, later. Yeah, for sure. Who amongst

Jeff Winters: 1:30

us could sing the most now? I think it's me. That's just my buds. More might say well, let's

Eric Watkins: 1:34

hear a little some. Moving on.

Jeff Winters: 1:37

Shall we shall we? Let's do it. You won't introduce me, Eric.

Eric Watkins: 1:42

I want to introduce you my winners. Oh, the segment? Yes. Yes. We shall move on. Yes. To our very own LinkedIn. Sheriff. Corey, you're on LinkedIn. I connected with you earlier today. There's some garbage out there. There's some people spreading fake news thinking they know what they're talking about. And they have to be held accountable. That's why we hired the sheriff. That's what I'm here for sheriff winters. That's right. Let's hear it two truths and a lie. Two Truths and

Jeff Winters: 2:13

a Lie patrolling LinkedIn each and every week. So you all don't have to. We are many things here. Gentlemen. We are not lawyers. Corey, you're a master of audio. But you are no lawyer in us. That's right. We don't pretend to be I'm not giving out legal advice. Clearly, I'm just reading some somebody else. Sam Nelson. Breaking FCC makes a I cold calling illegal comment, which I think I've gone with for the truth. Comment. All is right, in the world

Eric Watkins: 2:42

being go true. Let me start here. Because I'm passionate about this. i The introduction of API calls probably come out in the past year. And you know, I think we've seen with cold email how quickly your inbox gets filled up. Because the barrier of entry to send an email is as easy as setting a sequence up. This was going to be terrible. Well, not even for yes. Are we a little selfish? Because we do it manually and have humans do it? Sure, for sure. But I don't want already get enough calls on my phone right now. I can't even imagine when you just said an AI campaign and let it rip. We won't use our phones anymore.

Unknown: 3:25

Yeah, it'll take spam the whole next level, no doubt about it. Right. Spam

Eric Watkins: 3:29

spam. With API calls. Yeah, that would be an absolute nightmare. Good job by them stepping in? Why did they do it? Why do you think they did it so quick? That was quick. I think

Jeff Winters: 3:38

there were some really bad incidents of like horrible behavior, whether it be in the political realm or elsewhere, taking advantage of people, which you could easily see. And it's it's terrible. And I'm glad that it's hopefully this is right. Again, we're not legal scholars here. But we're not scholars really of any kind. But damn is a smart guy though. Sam smart. I think he's right. I hope it's gone. True. Thank goodness. You're next, you ever watch Friday Night Lights? Oh, yeah. Movie. Yeah. And the show the show Talking the show? Yeah. Coach Taylor. That name? Yeah. A lot

Eric Watkins: 4:14

of people is that is this post from him? Kind of. This is a

Jeff Winters: 4:18

little bit of a stretch. So it's a truth. It's Shelley DeMont. Kramer is talking about this. She reposted a United Airlines video campaign. And she says What a terrific campaign bringing Coach Taylor motivator extraordinaire into the conversation. The campaign which is the truth is all about that United Airlines will let you rebook for free. And it talks about how in the Super Bowl season if you're a real fan, if you truly believe you will book your tickets to the Super Bowl for next year for your fans and just how belief changes everything and it's not just belief. This is what he says in the videos. I love it. It's not and we talked about thought that it's not just belief, its belief so much so that you're gonna book a ticket to next year's Super Bowl belief changes everything.

Unknown: 5:10

That's right. Yep. I agree if you take it, step ahead, I guess Coach Taylor, if he's motivating you enough to book for a year ahead, then he must be the master motivator. Right? Yeah.

Jeff Winters: 5:21

I just believe in the back talking about belief in the business that like that that to me is like the it's there's so much belief you're gonna book a plane ticket for a year from now like, Eric business context. You're You're the master of

Eric Watkins: 5:34

this. Yeah, I hope. I hope nobody from the bills book their flights. Think they're gonna be making it anytime soon. That runs over but no, what were the numbers? Did it work? I bet they had a ton of people booking flights. Oh, I bet David did a ton of people. A lot. A lot of cities with no business bookings. Yeah, exactly. Some flights? Yeah. Who do you think I'm thinking? Book? And who is the who? Who book the least? Who is least likely to need that flight? Arizona Cardinals, your

Jeff Winters: 6:04

Carolina Panthers. Chicago Chicago

Unknown: 6:06

Bears?

Eric Watkins: 6:08

Yeah, a lot of Panthers.

Jeff Winters: 6:10

I'm gonna tell you, there's a lot of Packers fans. But that's a lot of packers flip. And now to the lie, lie, lie the lie. The life comes in the form of a poll result. Y'all seen these LinkedIn polls, never talk about the polls. I think it's important because the this is like hundreds of people lying to us. At the same time, Bob, Bob person posted the poll. What's the quickest way to grow sales, and here are your options. You can focus on existing customers, you can improve the internal sales process, you can better sales team performance, or you can improve marketing. Two thirds of the people say it's focused on existing customers. And okay, I'm not I'm not saying no business can grow by focusing on existing customers. But two thirds of businesses think the best way for them to grow this year is by focusing on existing customers. You know what this smells like to me boys. And you're the sales professional. This smells like the economy's bad. We can't generate new sales. Let's focus on new customers and just kind of kind of go into a little bit of a crash. And that's where the lies.

Unknown: 7:23

Yeah, I agree. You've got to focus to me always has to be on generating new business, right, attracting new customers. Yes, the focus should always be maintaining the existing book of business. But if you're not continuing to pump through new prospects and new opportunities for the business, and then where are you going really for the future? Yeah,

Eric Watkins: 7:42

I would agree with that. And I, you know, I think well, how did they weren't they weren't the quickest way.

Jeff Winters: 7:47

Where to focus to where to focus to kickstart sales, to kick learn to focus first to kickstart sales.

Eric Watkins: 7:55

Yeah, I I love getting more revenue from your customers. I think there's great, but that's not sustainable. And it could there be some quick hit shirt, but I think, honestly, sales team performance, if you think about if you have opportunities coming to your sales team right now, so you have 500 opportunities, and you can increase their efficiency by 5%. It's 25 more deals tomorrow. You know, I Yeah. So I would disagree with the results

Unknown: 8:24

of the poll. Two thirds, two thirds. That's surprising.

Jeff Winters: 8:27

That's too many. Yeah, that's people don't want to make cold calls. No. regrets? Yeah.

Eric Watkins: 8:31

Yeah. Good stuff. You're up again?

Jeff Winters: 8:36

I don't think so. Back to 5450. Baby, people want to hear me go again.

Eric Watkins: 8:40

Yeah, we got to keep the format. We gotta we gotta stay to the stick to the script.

Jeff Winters: 8:46

All right, so the 5450 section is ordinarily Scott's section. And so but I'm gonna go, and my 50 for 50 is all about problem solving, and making sure that you are solving the right problem and how to do that. So I think we often see in business, people coming up with very quick solutions to problems and underestimating the second and third order consequences and maybe solving a symptom and not a problem. And it was interesting, I was reading a study on fortune 500 executives, and the study shared that in a 60 minute meeting to solve a problem. What number of minutes does that team spend solving the problem versus coming up with the problem? How many minutes determining what the problem is in a 60 minute meeting versus how many minutes determining the solution? What do you think how long you think this bet?

Unknown: 9:54

I would say it's 7030 about finding working this solution. Yeah. Eric

Eric Watkins: 10:00

Don't know,

Jeff Winters: 10:02

the highest performing teams in this study, spend 45 minutes diagnosing the problem and 15 minutes defining the solution. 45 minutes diagnosing the problem 15 minutes finding the solution, oh, the highest performing team. Yeah, that's performing teams. And that, to me is indicative, because look, if I'm thirsty, I need something to drink, right? I'm hungry, I gotta get somebody, my breast thinks I need to brush my teeth. Like the solution is often pretty obvious. It's the finding of the actual problem. And and I guess my my main point here is, make sure your team members are actually finding the root cause of problems. Otherwise, you get to an organization of a certain size, and people are just solving symptoms with little solutions, and ultimately not solving the actual problem. And you'll find that you will complicate and exacerbate existing things that are going on in your company, because they're solving the wrong problem.

Unknown: 11:00

Yeah, I think it's important to get down to the actual root of it, isn't it? So working backwards from the initial solution and getting down to the root and then that helps you identify where you allocate your time and figure out the focus? Right?

Eric Watkins: 11:13

Yeah, I like that a lot. I think the you know, when this is hard to do when when things are bad things are really, because what you want to do is you just want to do something. So oftentimes, the quickest problem you can spot is the one that yourself. And I think that's what we're seeing with high performing teams is they're not wasting resources on certain problems. They're really evaluating and doing that. I guess the part that I would, that I would, I'm curious about is I feel like the best teams often are the best executors as well. And I feel like sometimes we shortchange like the execution of the plan or have the problem but if you're solving the wrong problems all day, you're not going to be very successful as a business. Right?

Jeff Winters: 11:54

And so easy like you're in a room to me goes Oh, the problems this and people just start with the solution so fast. Yeah, yep. That is wrong. Because you could if you solve a simple, you know, I have a fever. Well, perfect. Like, let's take some Tylenol. Yeah. Well, wait a minute. Now I have some other symptoms. Like that's like, approach it like a doctor. Yeah. And they say like, ask why five times? Yeah. Yeah. What? My knee hurts. Oh, great. Give him Tylenol. Well, what if that knee pain is actually a result of a broken patella like Tonga helped that? No. So that's, that's a really good point. Thank you

Eric Watkins: 12:30

don't say good job. I'm surprised. I use that five why's all the time was that the Toyota was at Toyota model? Solving problems? Good job

Jeff Winters: 12:39

is hard to carry? I hope I did. Okay.

Eric Watkins: 12:43

I'm sure Scott will have some feedback for you. But Awesome. Okay. Well, to the part we've all been waiting for. Well, not yet. Are set everybody's second favorite part. Mining for growth gold. So Cory, you mentioned it earlier, the most important thing is we have to get prospects into that pipeline. Yeah. Can't sell them. If they don't, they're not in the pipeline, right. So in this section, we're going to talk about some ways to continue to get more prospects in that pipeline. And this one's going to be specific to cold calling, we've been on that topic for a little bit. And this one is really, really simple. And I'm going to illustrate how important it is. So when you're calling on prospects, specifically for a service, business, or even a, if you're selling software as a service, that applies as well. And, you know, if you look at a market 90% of the time, you're going to talk to somebody who's really not interested in what you have to offer, they're indifferent, or they're literally hanging up and not letting you speak to them. So it's important that those 90% are eventually going to be the ones that are going to be exploring and evaluating your service. So what do you do in these calls when they're not interested to make sure that you're moving that record forward along the pipeline? And the number one thing you can do, I will say this, the number one thing you can do is find out their contract and date. And when they typically reevaluate their services. This is a question we asked on a ton of calls. And you may think, oh, that's invasive. People don't want to tell you that. It's really simple. I know you're, I know, it sounds like you have your it handled right now. I was just curious. When do you typically as a business, reevaluate your IT partnership? And they'll tell me, you know, it's February right now, they'll say we reevaluate around May, or we reevaluate around June. And I'll ask one more question. You know, when you really reevaluate what's really important to you, when it comes to your it, and they'll tell me, you know, response time, or they'll say, I just want to make sure I'm getting the best value, or I'm paying the lowest price or whatever. So if I do that, say I launched you know, in our process, we launched about 2000 companies through this process. And I know all these companies, I know who the decision maker is. I know when their contract end dates are. That makes my prospecting really, really Easy. Yep. Because the next time I follow up with them, I use the words you shared with me. So, Cory, great to have you back on the phone. I'm following up from last time we talked, you shared with me that you typically reevaluate your reevaluate your services in May, you also shared that response time was really important. And also just making sure that you have the best price. So we've actually made some real big enhancements to our response time. And I think we have some options that you'd be really excited about, do you have your calendar in front of you, I can just go straight in and get that appointment. And because you're bringing, because you're not a cold call anymore, and you're bringing that credibility. And it's just a way, it's an easy, easy way to prospect. Where did I get this tip from? I got it from two people within our organization who have set a combined 12,000 appointments in their career. This is what they do. Yep. They find contracts and dates, and they go and they call prospects, and they remind them of the conversation that simple as that. Yeah,

Unknown: 15:57

well, I think there's a couple of things you said there. And that's having a means to call back and an intro, right. I think sometimes the toughest part about cold calling is getting your initial foot in the door. And that intro is a good part. And when you have that leverage from the earlier conversations, it makes it so much easier. I think and then going back to the original point to it's, I think sometimes STRS, inside sales reps, when they hear that initial know, their head initially goes down. And then it's ended the call, where that can be utilized to ask more discovery questions to, like you said, gain more intel gain more information to properly build that pipeline. So you're setting yourself up for success? Because if you're not doing that, you're making it just a numbers game, right? Just call after call after call here and no after no after No, which it will be that in a sense. But if you can leverage as much as humanly possible out of every single phone call, it allows you to build that pipeline and convert more opportunities into deals. So I completely agree

Jeff Winters: 16:54

here from the prospects per sec perspective to which is interesting. If that you might think in your head as a caller, it seems invasive, what they hear is an opportunity to get off the phone. Because if you go What's your contract, and they they're like, gosh, great. I can say September and this person won't bother me again until September. Yeah. And so it's actually sort of a relief. I made some calls today. unsuccess.

Eric Watkins: 17:18

I like to make my dials. The goal is not set an appointment. goal is to have a great conversation, the goals and set an appointment

Jeff Winters: 17:23

that I achieved it but some good, good conversations, but I totally just Oh, yeah. And just out of curiosity, you know, when you're when your contract with ABC, oh, it's up in October, like the guard totally comes down, because they are one second closer to thinking that they might be able to get you off the phone. But you will be able to come back, as you both said, and leverage it later on. This is a really good tip.

Eric Watkins: 17:46

I really like what you said, Cory in the point of, it's hard to get rejected all day. Yeah, it's hard to have tough conversations, but it turns it into a game. The game is I have all these companies, and I have 12 buckets in front of me one for each month of the year. And I'm just putting companies in the bucket that makes the most sense every day. I'm sorting through businesses. And then before you know it, you get to the August bucket, you pick it up and it's overflowing, and you're gonna have a hell of a month. Yep, simple as that.

Jeff Winters: 18:18

beautifully put Eric, do you like that? I think it was gorgeous. I think you're a little off kilter being the host at this point.

Eric Watkins: 18:24

I keep forgetting that on the host because I'm typically not the host but

Jeff Winters: 18:28

you were wanting to go on a time you hosted this show.

Eric Watkins: 18:32

I got fired for a reason. I got fired Yeah, it's weird to go from your section to the host to the next section.

Jeff Winters: 18:41

Yeah, you're like You're like the starting quarterback who got benched and now is getting another shot and his on like his third interception of the half July Oh

Unknown: 18:50

Flacco I'm like

Eric Watkins: 18:52

I'm like Lamar Jackson when he threw that pass and then had to go catch it himself. Like yeah, that's

Jeff Winters: 18:58

it I feel like you still got two more sorrows. You can make an I can make

Eric Watkins: 19:01

it I got this. All right, transitioning to our next section. Cory This is the part we've all been waiting for. Man we bring on a guest they get a run a section, Tales from sales. What is your tip to get out there and close these leads?

Unknown: 19:15

Yeah, that's a good one. It's hard to narrow it down to one so I'm going to focus more on the mindset and actually kind of goes back to what we were talking about before and it's embrace the suck as negative as that might sound. It's the sales is all about trials and tribulations you're gonna get more nose and yeses. So I think it's just being able to identify the good and identify the bad, right? The team that works with me, all right, we have 60 STRS. And they're making 80 to 90 cold calls a day. You know, getting rejected 90% of the time. So it's being able the cold calling, it's tough, right? Because we don't have the luxury of being face to face with prospects. So you can't go based off body language sitting there building rapport with people. What all comes down to his tonality. And I think if you carry the negativity from the call before the day before the hour before, it's going to be a dangerous snowball effect. And that goes for inside sales, outside sales for anything in life in that sense, but so it is embracing the suck, knowing that every day is not going to be a good one, right? Celebrating the wins as much as humanly possible. And realizing it that it is in a sense, a little bit of a numbers game. But if you can set yourself up for success and embrace that suck, then you can start to find success. I

Jeff Winters: 20:32

use this exact phrase the other day in a math in our one of our one on ones here, I said you got to embrace the suck. I told I said this to you yesterday, you got to embrace we're talking about something else, I You got to embrace the suck, I love embrace the suck for two reasons. First, embracing the suck, is I have the mindset that it's gonna get better, like I'm only embracing this temporarily. And it's gonna get better. And as soon as it does, like the suck, will seem like the best part. It sounds so cliche, the journey, it's all about the journey. It's not about the destination. And that's that's hard to say that when you're in a bad seeming journey.

Unknown: 21:10

Yeah. And you almost have to have it as weird as it sounds of short term memory, right? Because it's if going back to what I said earlier that if you carry the the mindset into every single call, then it's never gonna end well. Right? So it's trying to take every call as a new one. It's easier said than done sometimes. But if you can just shake it off and move on to the next one. I think sometimes that's the toughest hurdle for new entry level sales role or people getting into sales is understanding how many times you do fail. All right, but that's how it is in life. Right. That's what we talked about pro athletes. Roger, the Joe Flacco is a Lamar Jackson's, they have to all go through that. So seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but I think to do that, it takes a lot of repetition and just continuing to go through it. How

Eric Watkins: 21:53

do you try it? I feel like whenever this, this makes a ton of sense. And people are sitting out there and they're like, Yeah, of course embrace the suck, embrace the suck. And then it sucks. And some people are really bad at this. Yeah. How do you guys train or coach your reps to just improve? Is there any tips tricks you have?

Unknown: 22:09

Yeah, so we have a very open concept sales floor. So you know, the 60 sales reps, they sit next to each other, they make calls with each other every single day, all day. So it's seeing people that are going through it with you makes it easier. But going back to what I said as well, as is celebrating the small wins, too. And if you can kind of shift that mindset to even if it didn't convert into an appointment, if it didn't convert into a deal, there were small wins within that call that made it a positive. So if you can kind of shift that mindset in that aspect, but with the training and developing, I think dissecting calls for us internally is probably the best tool that we have. Because when you're on a live phone call, I know and Taylor is more towards STRS. But you almost blacked out right? When you're on the phone with the CEO. And it all goes so quick. And then you know, the phone call ends, you're like, I don't know what just happened. I don't know where that went wrong. And the reality of it is with a cold call, it's only a matter of one or two words that can completely change the trajectory of the call. So I think going back and being able to listen to it in slow motion, you know, pausing it in certain aspects with the intro, the clothes that consolidation, it helps you identify the small words within the call that you're like. That's it, right. And then, you know, it can bring that into into the future.

Jeff Winters: 23:24

Another question as it relates to dissecting sales calls, which I just think is so important to any great sales culture? What is your rhythm for dissecting calls? Are you doing it in group settings? Are you doing it one on one? And then once you're in those sessions, tactically, and mechanically, how do they work? Yeah, so

Unknown: 23:41

I like to do it in three. And this is what I trained my head of sales to do, as well as do three, three to one sessions. I think there's a few things it gives the other reps that are in the room and opportunity to hear different pitches and different people different ways of working so they can start to incorporate that in their pitch. But I think also to from a time efficiency standpoint, allows you to kill sort of three birds with one stone with with the training. I like to break it down into four sections. So you have the gatekeeper, right, getting past the initial, right, the initial gatekeeper the intro. So once you get that decision maker on the phone, how was your tonality? How, you know, how did you intro the call, you have the meat of the pitch. So actually pitching our product, you know, did you build value? What were the pain points? Did you highlight the solutions? And then the consolidation did we set the meeting up properly so our outside sales reps has the chance to then go in there and close the deal on the day so I like to break it down into those four and I think it helps quite a bit. It also too it's because it's tough to sit there and let a full three minute call five minute call run out and then try and go back revert back and and do the training on it. So breaking it down by sections to me, as has gone a long way.

Eric Watkins: 24:54

What's the best thing you have for gatekeepers? Would you say? Oh,

Unknown: 24:58

I think it's being confident CEO to CEO mentality for me, you know, I think the main thing is convincing that gatekeeper that he's sitting there waiting for your call he or she sitting there waiting for your call. I think confidence is key there effectively their job is to sit there and sift through sales calls and obviously do other other tasks. But so it is it's being confident in yourself and confident in the product and hopefully getting through to maximize that chance.

Eric Watkins: 25:27

How do you train confidence?

Unknown: 25:28

Yeah, it's a good question. I think it comes with time, it does. You know, a lot of the inside sales reps that we have that is some for some of them, it's their first sales role, right. So I think going through it a little bit helps build that confidence. But I think if you just continue to invest in them, it helps build that confidence, you know, call it doing the call coaching the call shadowing, doing role plays as well goes a long way to build up that confidence before they get on the phone. But I think it's just positive reinforcement as well for the newer reps. You know, just being with them going through it with them as well. You know, I've had the luxury of of starting off as an SDR. So I understood the trials and tribulations of what it takes to be successful in that role. And, you know, I hope that they can kind of see my story as a stepping stone to do the same that, you know, I know what it takes to be successful. I know how bad it feels to have a bad day, a bad week, a bad month. So I think that's helped me as well.

Jeff Winters: 26:27

Do you make cold calls?

Unknown: 26:30

I when we have sales inquiries, I'll hop back on the phones. I recommend my head of sales to as well because there's days where I think it is important to get in the trenches with the team to let them know that you're in it with them. Right. Because and to show me show me still Yeah, exactly. Yes. And I still got it. Yeah, I still have it. But But yeah, that's it. Because you know, the motivating and coaching and developing is one part of being a sales leader. But I think you know, being able to hop in and show them how it's done is another part as well.

Jeff Winters: 27:03

It's interesting. You both have gotten to incredible positions of prominence both started as STRS. Eric and I want to hear from you too. Do you? Does that give you a leg up?

Eric Watkins: 27:15

I think yeah, I can't imagine leading STRS without doing the work yourself like that, especially in a I think that's that goes with any job that you would say is mentally or physically taxing. Like, for example, if I'm on a construction site, and I'm busting my ass, I don't want to see somebody who has never hammered a nail before I don't want you run in my construction crew is basically the face

Jeff Winters: 27:39

by the way is pointing at me. It makes like you know, I

Eric Watkins: 27:43

just think I think there's something there's something to that. I really do.

Unknown: 27:46

I think it's the respect that you gain from the team as well. Like you said, you know, going through it. And the peaks and valleys of it. Is is important, for sure.

Eric Watkins: 27:59

Good stuff. Good stuff core better than me. Hey, am I why we bring guests and I'm off that section now. You're off. You're done. We're gonna bring you back. Way back. To be back. Yeah, every Friday. Every Friday. Yeah,

Unknown: 28:15

that's a worst drive ever. I'll tell you that. Just through cornfields.

Eric Watkins: 28:19

Are you in the you up in the city or Yeah, so

Unknown: 28:23

River North our office. Our office is in right next to the tribune in Wrigley Building. In the Heart of Dallas.

Eric Watkins: 28:29

You got the full five? Yeah, five to get here. Yeah, it's,

Unknown: 28:32

it's brutal. All

Eric Watkins: 28:34

right. Well, last but not least, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Jeff Winters: 28:39

This will make the five hour shifts, we'll make it worth it.

Eric Watkins: 28:43

This will make it worth it. A lot of business talk a lot of good advice coming out, but we got to have a little bit of fun as well. A little bit of fun. So at the end of every show to do or not to do. I'm gonna throw out something you guys just give me your opinion, should you do it or should you not do it? And today's is near and dear to the heart. I live in O'Fallon, Illinois. And you know, we have a basketball team. That's pretty good. And from time to time, I'll go check out a game.

Jeff Winters: 29:17

What do you mean you have a basketball? A high

Eric Watkins: 29:19

school basketball team? Yeah. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you for the clarify. Doesn't quite own one. Jeff and I had a little Yeah, I have this NBA basketball team called the rockets. Yeah. The O'Fallon nuggets. Yeah, the O'Fallon nuggets. Jeff and I were talking off this a little bit, and he feels a certain type of way about people who go back and watch high school events. I know you played a little lacrosse in school, you've probably checked out a couple of Viani lacrosse games since you've been gone. I

Unknown: 29:47

do just just to make sure just to show that I still was us just to leverage with the current team. So yeah,

Eric Watkins: 29:54

yeah, Jeff, what do you think about that

Jeff Winters: 29:56

way, man, so do you think it is okay? For old guys? Like us to be showing up at high school sporting events without any kids.

Unknown: 30:06

Yeah, just standing there in the corner just with your arms folded, just staring. Yeah. Where are you at in space?

Jeff Winters: 30:11

What do you think?

Unknown: 30:12

It's a good point. I think there's a certain age where it does start to become a bit creepy. You know, I think once you get what's that about the 10 year mark, maybe? Your graduation High School High School? 20. Yeah, right. I think I think after 28 Then it starts to get a little a little sketch.

Jeff Winters: 30:31

I did not play any sports. So I don't know how much standing I have here. But I can tell you this. You go to the newspaper room. There's a lot of laughs I get that really people really like that. I think it's weird. I think it's very weird. At any point to come but other than of Jersey retirement ceremony. I think the reliving of high school greatness in general. It makes me physically nauseous. And put that maybe because I didn't have any success socially or academically or athletically in high school. So I guess maybe if those were the glory years, I would go back to try to relive them. But Eric and I come on, man, you get you come back greeted like the conquering hero. They don't even burning Ovation over the

Eric Watkins: 31:19

10 year I'm over the 10 year mark. They don't even remember me anymore. I'm way over the 10 year but what do you think here? To be honest, I really didn't tip back to my high school. I really didn't do it other like once I got out of college, I would say. So I actually kind of agree. But every once in a while like go check out some high school sports like it's you know, takes you back. Here's

Jeff Winters: 31:43

my getting back to Friday Night Lights. Here's my caveat. Okay. For my Texas family. Yeah. If this is the thing in your town. Oh, yeah, that everybody does. That doesn't count. That's not what we're talking about.

Unknown: 31:55

Yeah, I guess it also depends how good the team is. Because if you're going to watch a team, that's two and 10. Run up to the end of the year then then yeah, but if we're talking to state championship Ron then yeah,

Eric Watkins: 32:08

then then more like an NBA prospect or somebody? Yeah, see, I

Unknown: 32:12

think that's the last high school game that I went to is when Jason Tatum was still Yeah, at Shaman.

Jeff Winters: 32:17

I'm not going to watch F dunk No, this is this is this is where I disagree. I'm not going to watch a 16 year old kid that the magazine thinks is good prospect that's now in the NBA tell

Eric Watkins: 32:29

you can tell everybody I remember when I saw

Jeff Winters: 32:32

him and I was there and Roy was in the gym. I feel like that is so silly. I just cuz you don't know it's such a crapshoot. You

Eric Watkins: 32:39

knew with him? Yeah.

Unknown: 32:40

Will you say Bill were the two new with him.

Jeff Winters: 32:44

I'm just saying but here's my if you're in Tyler Texas shout out Tyler Texas big viewership go to those games baby. Well, there's a do and yeah, amen. It's a great thing to be able to

Eric Watkins: 32:55

Texas Yeah. Tyler, Texas. Well, it's been a great episode. Cory thank you for driving down join in the growth show. We appreciate the insight and let's grow

Unknown: 33:05

let's grow Yeah, love it. Thanks, guys. The grow show is sponsored by creative sweets big agency flavor, bite size price.